Radiotherapy staffing in the European countries: Final results from the ESTRO-HERO survey

Lievens, Yolande; Defourny, Noémie; Coffey, Mary; Borrás, Josep María; Dunscombe, Peter; Slotman, Ben J.; Malicki, J.; Bogusz, Marta; Gasparotto, Chiara; Grau, C.; Kokobobo, Arianit; Sedlmayer, Felix; Slobina, E.L.; Coucke, Philippe; Gabrovski, Roumen; Vošmik, Milan; Eriksen, Jesper Grau; Jaal, Jana; Dejean, C.; Polgár, Csaba; Johannsson, Jakob; Cunningham, Moya; Atkočius, Vydmantas; Back, Carlo; Pirotta, Martin; Karadjinovic, Vanja; Levernes, S.; Maciejewski, Bogusław; Trigo, Maria Lurdes; Šegedin, Barbara; Palacios, Amalia; Pastoors, Bert; Beardmore, Charlotte; Erridge, Sara; Smyth, Gaile; Soler, Ramon Cleries

doi:10.1016/j.radonc.2014.08.034

Cited by 89 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The possible limitation of the OUP having been estimated with stage distributions from only five population based cancer registry data has been discussed above. Analyses, such as the one presented, are inherently limited by the timely and complete collection of data: for the estimates of the gap between actual and optimal utilization, the latter refers to the year 2012 while the data on actual utilization are not [5,6]. Variations in radiotherapy activity are, however, extremely dependent on facilities being opened or renovated and additional personnel being trained, both typically spreading over long time periods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The optimal utilization proportion of external beam radiotherapy in European countries: An ESTRO-HERO analysis

Borràs

Lievens

Dunscombe

et al. 2015

Radiotherapy and Oncology

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a b s t r a c tBackground and purpose: The absolute number of new cancer patients that will require at least one course of radiotherapy in each country of Europe was estimated. Material and methods: The incidence and relative frequency of cancer types from the year 2012 European Cancer Observatory estimates were used in combination with the population-based stage at diagnosis from five cancer registries. These data were applied to the decision trees of the evidence-based indications to calculate the Optimal Utilization Proportion (OUP) by tumour site. Results: In the minimum scenario, the OUP ranged from 47.0% in the Russian Federation to 53.2% in Belgium with no clear geographical pattern of the variability among countries. The impact of stage at diagnosis on the OUP by country was rather limited. Within the 24 countries where data on actual use of radiotherapy were available, a gap between optimal and actual use has been observed in most of the countries. Conclusions: The actual utilization of radiotherapy is significantly lower than the optimal use predicted from the evidence based estimates in the literature. This discrepancy poses a major challenge for policy makers when planning the resources at the national level to improve the provision in European countries.Ó 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Radiotherapy and Oncology xxx (2015) xxx-xxxThe estimated number of new cancer patients that require radiotherapy is a key parameter for planning the resources needed in a specific country in the framework of a cancer control programme. Most commonly, this calculation has been carried out using a specific proportion, typically the 'gold standard' of 50%, of the incident cases that would require radiotherapy at least http://dx

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analyses of the resources available in the European countries were recently published [5][6][7]. This paper evaluates the evidence-based country-specific demand for radiotherapy across Europe in order to allow all stakeholders to be able to estimate the capital and human resources required to deliver an appropriate radiotherapy service.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The optimal utilization proportion of external beam radiotherapy in European countries: An ESTRO-HERO analysis

Borràs

Lievens

Dunscombe

et al. 2015

Radiotherapy and Oncology

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142

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“…Recently the current availability of equipment and staffing of radiotherapy services and of guidelines for planning purposes in individual European countries has been reported [12][13][14]. The next necessary component of the HERO project is to assess the evidence based demand for radiotherapy services in Europe, which is the objective of this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of cancer incidence and stage on optimal utilization of radiotherapy: Methodology of a population based analysis by the ESTRO-HERO project

Borràs

Bartoň

Grau

et al. 2015

Radiotherapy and Oncology

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a b s t r a c tBackground and purpose: The impact of differences in the distribution of major cancer sites and stages at diagnosis among 4 European countries on the optimal utilization proportion (OUP) of patients who should receive external beam radiotherapy was assessed within the framework of the ESTRO-HERO project. Materials and methods: Data from Australian Collaboration for Cancer Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CCORE) were used. Population based stages at diagnosis from the cancer registries of Belgium, Slovenia, the Greater Poland region of Poland, and The Netherlands were used to assess the OUP for each country. A sensitivity analysis was carried out. Results: The overall OUP by country varied from the lowest of 48.3% in Australia to the highest of 53.4% in Poland; among European countries the variation was limited to 3%. Cancer site specific OUPs showed differences according to the variability in stage at diagnosis across countries. The most important impact on the OUP by country was due to changes in relative frequency of tumours rather than stage at diagnosis. Conclusions: This methodology can be adapted using European data, thus facilitating the planning of resources required to cope with the demand for radiotherapy in Europe, taking into account the national variability in cancer incidence.Ó 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Radiotherapy and Oncology xxx (2015) xxx-xxx Radiotherapy is a key therapeutic approach in the multimodality treatment of cancer. The investment required to set up a radiotherapy facility, the time elapsed from the initial decision until the equipment is fully operational and the need for training highly skilled multi-professional teams are factors that have made the planning of radiotherapy a matter of discussion from a cancer policy making perspective. In order to proceed with such projects, the estimation of demand for radiotherapy is an essential component.Classically, the demand for radiotherapy has been estimated as a percentage of the incident cancer cases with an adjustment for re-treatment rates [1][2][3]. Traditionally the '50%' estimate of incident cases benefitting from radiotherapy was the 'ad hoc' approach. However, this heuristic method has been replaced by three new approaches to the estimation of demand [4-9]:1) an analysis of the utilization of radiotherapy in 'optimal' regions; 2) a criterion-based approach carried out for specific indications, and 3) an evidence-based evaluation of clinical guidelines, including all tumour sites with incidence of more than of 1%.These approaches were reviewed within the framework of the QUARTS project [10]. The third approach was selected as being http://dx

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“…The data collected allowed both a comparison with guidelines in existence 10 years ago at the time of the QUARTS survey [13] and with the current resources in the European countries as reported by Grau et al [7] and Lievens et al [8].…”

Section: The Hero Data Setmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although both actual numbers and full-time equivalents were collected, the numbers were used for the calculation of the key indicators, except for countries only providing full-time equivalents, where these were used as a proxy [8].…”

Section: The Hero Data Setmentioning

confidence: 99%

HERO (Health Economics in Radiation Oncology): A Pan-European Project on Radiotherapy Resources and Needs

et al. 2015

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Radiotherapy staffing in the European countries: Final results from the ESTRO-HERO survey

Cited by 89 publications

References 26 publications

The optimal utilization proportion of external beam radiotherapy in European countries: An ESTRO-HERO analysis

The optimal utilization proportion of external beam radiotherapy in European countries: An ESTRO-HERO analysis

The impact of cancer incidence and stage on optimal utilization of radiotherapy: Methodology of a population based analysis by the ESTRO-HERO project

HERO (Health Economics in Radiation Oncology): A Pan-European Project on Radiotherapy Resources and Needs

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